


Runaway

by MeChewChew



Series: Mechewchew's Whumptober2020 [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Human Experimentation, M/M, On the Run, Torture, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26857519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeChewChew/pseuds/MeChewChew
Summary: Rookie Tseng finds Rufus Shinra in the labs, feverish from experimentation, and has a moral quandary. He makes it his mission to rescue him.
Relationships: Rufus Shinra/Tseng
Series: Mechewchew's Whumptober2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965250
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> An extension of my day 5/6/7 whumptober2020. If you already read that day, you can skip to the first hyphen break of this fic!

It’s Tseng’s first time in the labs alone. He’s a rookie, on a routine mission to scour the labs to make sure the good Professor isn’t doing anything he shouldn’t be.

Personally, Tseng thinks Hojo shouldn’t be doing a lot of the things he does, but that’s not on his payroll.

It’s night time, after hours for all the regular workers. There’s a board meeting, so Hojo’s out of his labs for once. It’s nearly silent except for the occasional machine beeping or liquid shifting. He can hear every step he takes, echoing throughout the spacious rooms.

The labs are dimly lit with a red light; enough for him to see where he’s walking. Unfortunately, enough for him to see the deformed creatures sitting in the life sized test tubes too.

He delves deeper into the labs with a shiver, passing by malformed monsters, animals, humans. There’s some lion in one, tail lit with fire and eye bright in the dark. Tseng nearly jumps out of his skin when he meets his gaze, but takes a deep breath and continues on.

He crosses by a room with a dark shadow inside, shifting slightly, struggling. Something compels him to step in, his gut feeling telling him that this wasn’t supposed to be a part of the lab. He walks in, uses a small flashlight that he fishes out of his pocket to shine on the figure.

“Ah-!” He cuts off the scream before it can resonate, eyes wide at the hand that curls around his wrist.

Pale. Human. Shaking.

“Please…”

The voice is raspy, nearly blends in with the noises of the lab. Tseng shines the light up a quaking arm, across a white clad shoulder, and up to a pale face. He gasps, met with demure blue eyes, platinum hair sticking across his forehead, a fever blooming across his cheeks.

“Rufus Shinra?” He whispers in surprise.

“Help me,” The boy whimpers, gripping him like his life depending on it.

Alarm bells ring in Tseng’s head.

The President’s son shouldn’t be in the labs. That’s a definite. But how did he get down here in the first place? Did he get taken from his room?

Rufus lets out a shaky breath and Tseng’s attention is back on him. He needs to get him out. But first…

“Let go, Sir.”

He gently starts peeling Rufus’ fingers off of him. As soon as one’s off, it latches back on. Tseng sighs and leans down so they’re eye level, trying to be as sincere as he can.

“It’s okay, Sir. I’ve got you.”

It takes a moment before Rufus nods, shuddering as he lets go of Tseng’s arm. Tseng makes quick work of the restraints; two on his upper arms, one wrapped around his chest, and two tying his legs to the chair.

“Can you stand?” Tseng takes his arms and pulls him up. Rufus huffs and sways against him for a moment.

“S-”

An alarm rings through the lab, shaking Tseng to the core. His adrenaline spikes and before he knows it, he’s dragging Rufus and running out of the room and past the test tubes.

Rufus pants behind him, breathing much too hard for a normal person.

_He’s slowing them down._

They won’t make it out before being caught.

He stops them abruptly and Rufus runs straight into him. “Excuse me, Sir.” Before he can get a response, he’s loading Rufus onto his back.

“Please hang on tightly.”

Rufus’ arms come to wrap around his neck loosely and that’s good enough for him. He races through the labs, wincing when bright lights flash on. He doesn’t spare a second glance at all the creatures lining the wall, beelining for the exit.

_They’re so close._

Just a few more-

The doors open and Tseng nearly drops Rufus as he comes to a halt. Hojo and Heidegger are there. That’s no surprise. He readjusts Rufus on his back, shaking with cold sweat and digging his nails into his suit.

“Chief?”

His voice comes out quieter than he expects. He’s confused. Why is Veld here?

“Tseng.” Veld frowns at him, feigning confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Tseng has no idea how to answer without giving the mission away. So he does the best next thing.

He doesn’t.

“Leave him to me, I’ll handle it.” Veld says after a beat.

“I trust your men aren’t running amuck,” Heidegger sneers, going back to the meeting.

Hojo simply shrugs before turning away, “Put the boy back where you found him.”

The doors close and Tseng’s left alone with Veld and the heir on his back.

“Sir?” He’s breathless, the adrenaline wearing off.

Rufus squeezes him tighter, shudders, when Veld walks past them, into the lab.

“Follow me, Tseng.”

He doesn’t want to, chest tightening at the thought of returning to that place. But he doesn’t have a choice.

They get back to that room, illuminated now. The chair is cushioned and tilted back, looking as innocent as ever. If it weren’t for the rubber straps splayed open on the arms and legs. He can’t imagine what the President’s son was doing in it.

It makes Tseng sick.

“Please,” Rufus whispers in his ear.

Veld holds his arms out, reaches for the heir.

Tseng finds himself taking a step back, turning to put himself between them.

He can’t do it. It’s against his conscious, his morals. To put an innocent life into evil hands.

Veld takes a step forward.

Tseng takes a step back.

Veld sighs, looking at them with anguish.

“He belongs here, Tseng. He wasn’t part of the mission.”

Tseng feels his body go numb, a weight dropped in his stomach, looking at his mentor with shock. Betrayal.

Veld steps beside him and attempts to pull Rufus from his back, but arms wrap around Tseng tighter, nearly choking him. Tseng finds himself digging his hands into Rufus’ legs, holding onto him. The quietest ‘no’ is whispered into his ear.

He hears fabric shifting behind him and Rufus is suddenly dead weight on his back. Sleep.

“Let go, Tseng.” Veld says softly, tugging Rufus’ arms free from his neck.

He shouldn’t defy orders.

He lets Veld take him from his back and strap him back into the seat. Tseng watches, sees how labored Rufus’ breathing is, how flushed his cheeks are, how sick he looks as his head droops to the side.

Tseng feels an immense weight on his shoulders at the sight. His stomach churns at the guilt. He feels like he could vomit.

Veld quietly divulges to him that Rufus is having some tests run on him.

Tseng knows it’s a kind way to say that he’s being experimented on.

As he walks out of the room with his mentor, he looks back to Rufus and promises to himself that he’ll come back for him.

-

In the next coming months, Tseng makes it a point to visit Rufus when he can, carefully monitoring Hojo’s schedule and board meetings so there’s no one in the lab. It’s not like Rufus isn’t seen outside of the labs during the day. He still sees his tutor and stands through functions with his father, always a good picture of father and son for the tabloids.

Some nights though, Rufus is sent to the labs. Tseng doesn’t have access to the records and Rufus won’t tell him. Can’t tell him. He doesn’t know what Hojo injects him with each visit. Only that it feels like his body’s rejecting him.

Even if Rufus can’t respond to him some nights, eyes hazy and body feverish, Tseng likes to stay by his side as long as he can, squeezing his hand until he has to sneak out when Hojo returns.

He shouldn’t be doing this, he knows.

But no one’s seen the Shinra heir vulnerable like this. The media likes to portray him as some kind of prince or some suave bachelor. Tseng knows that Rufus is as much of a victim to Shinra as he bears the Shinra name.

It’s not until one night that he doesn’t escape quick enough that he witnesses it. Hiding between test tubes, he squints and watches Hojo enter the room, a vial of sickeningly green liquid sloshing in his hands. It reminds Tseng of mako, like the lifestream.

He clamps a hand over his own mouth to silence his sounds of shock when Hojo injects it and Rufus immediately starts convulsing. Hojo simply stands there with a clipboard and watches, writing down notes as if he were simply observing a simple chemical reaction.

Tseng shakes in his hiding spot, feels vomit come up his throat, and swallows it. It takes minutes for Rufus to calm back down, shaking from his struggling, that familiar, feverish look overtaking his body.

Hojo nods and Tseng watches in horror as he takes out another vial from his pocket. He barely hears the quiet _‘please’_ Rufus says as he shies away, but Hojo doesn’t care. The needles goes in and Rufus’ body throws another fit.

Tseng squeezes his stomach to staunch his queasiness. Blue eyes roll up as he convulses, sweat trickles down his face, veins are angry and popping against his neck.

And yet.

Rufus doesn’t cry, doesn’t scream.

He grits his teeth and takes it despite his earlier plea.

Hojo nods and writes more on his clipboard. Tseng knows he should leave now while Hojo’s distracted. He has to leave now, or he’ll get caught.

Leave.

Now.

It feels like he’s carrying an immense weight on his shoulder as he sneaks out, runs away from the labs. He feels guilty. As if it was somehow his responsibility that this was happening to Rufus. He sprints all the way back home, suit soaked in sweat by the time he gets back.

He takes in one breath.

Two.

He promptly vomits outside of his apartment complex.

He comes up with a plan.

-

Tseng slings a backpack around his chest, filled with a change of clothes, money, weapons, and medicine. Tonight should be an especially long board meeting according to Hojo’s schedule. He sneaks into the labs, into that room, undoes the straps holding Rufus down.

Then, they’re off.

He hauls Rufus onto his back like he did so long before. The lab doors open without a hitch. He had learned how to dismantle the advanced alarms in the past few months.

They zoom into the elevator and Tseng lets himself breathe for a moment, resting Rufus’ weight against the bar.

“Tseng,” Rufus says quietly, breath shallow against his ear.

“Yes, Sir?” He replies professionally, as if his actions right now weren’t going to get him hunted down.

“I can’t leave.”

The words are barely above a whisper, but it feels as if Rufus had just shouted in the silence of the elevator. Before he can respond, Rufus manages to speak up again.

“They’ll find you. They’ll kill you.”

“No,” Tseng finds himself saying back. Breathless, but strong. Assuring. “I have a plan. We’ll get you out of the city. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, only that y-”

“I don’t want you to die.” Rufus cuts in, squeezes him tighter.

It takes all the breath out of him. The elevator’s nearly to the garage floors now. They have to decide quickly.

“Do you trust me?” Tseng asks quietly, readjusting his grip on Rufus’ legs.

Rufus doesn’t respond. The elevator’s at floor seven.

“Rufus, please.” He begs, shifting his weight onto his back again.

The numbers descend.

All those nights spent planning for tonight and he hadn’t thought to ask Rufus what he wanted. He was so stupid, so selfish. So naive. He only wanted to appease his own guilt, his own morals. What if Rufus didn’t want to leave the only home he’s known? What if-

“Yes.”

Tseng stops thinking lets out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding and takes a heavy step towards the elevator doors. This was the final time they would see the Shinra building. He hopes.

“Runaway with me?” He asks quietly; needs the confirmation.

“Yes.”

The doors open and he’s sprinting towards an unmarked Shinra car, opening the passenger side and seating Rufus inside before getting into the drivers’ seat. He steps on the peddle and they’re out.

He should have about half an hour before anyone notices that Rufus is missing. It’s a race against the clock as he speeds towards the slums, ditching the car at the edge of the upper plate and covering Rufus with a blanket before lifting him out and losing themselves in the alleyways of the sector five slums.

They’re about ten minutes into the maze of dark alleys before Rufus speaks up again.

“There’s a chip.”

“What?” Tseng stops, feels his heart jump into his throat. He leans them against a brick wall.

“In my arm. You have to take it out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Tseng sits him on the ground and feels his adrenaline spike again. He hadn’t accounted for them being tracked down here.

“Get it out.”

Tseng meets Rufus’ gaze, dim from the distant streetlights. There’s no hesitation in his eyes, aside from the usual tiredness from his lab visits.

“What if I-”

“I trust you.”

Tseng swallows and nods, sets the backpack down and pulls out a knife from his inner pocket.

“Do you want me to sed-”

“There’s no time.” Rufus cuts him off once again, uses the small portion of his strength to grab Tseng’s arm and squeeze reassuringly.

Tseng takes his jacket off, pushes it into Rufus’ mouth for him to bite on, and turns the flashlight he has on. He sticks it in his mouth to shine on Rufus arm, pushing the loose sleeves of his ‘hospital gown’ up. Then, he rips his tie off, wraps it tightly around Rufus’ bicep, takes a deep breath.

And he cuts.

Rufus flinches and grinds his teeth into the jacket with a painful huff. Tseng shushes him and coos, hands steady despite his shaky heartbeat. Blood pools and drips down Rufus’ arm, staining his gown, the ground, and Tseng’s gloves.

Finally, he feels the metal device against his blade. He carefully scoots it out into his palm and sighs in relief, sticking it in his pocket.

With a quick tear here and there, he manages to rip up part of the blanket and wrap strips around Rufus’ arm as a temporary bandage. Rufus is pale and shaking against him , sweat dripping down his face as Tseng covers him up again with the remainder of the blanket and hauls him on his back.

They make their way to sector seven. Along the way, Tseng picks up a stray piece of fruit and sticks the tracker inside. He throws it to a nearby stray dog, and watches it run off with the food.

Tseng knows where all the cameras are in the sectors. Memorized it religiously for the past months in preparation for this day.

He makes it to an inconspicuous apartment complex he had already paid the rent for in advanced, unlocking the door with one hand and kicking it closed behind him once they’re in.

Rufus had gone quiet half way to their destination, presumably out cold from the shock. Tseng carefully lays him in bed and takes the full cure materia out from his bag, casting it until the cut on Rufus’ arm closes.

Then, he collapses onto the bed. His adrenaline had waned long ago, legs shaking to hold them both up, nearly falling on the staircase up to their room.

He hears a helicopter fly by and seizes up in fear for a moment, grabbing Rufus tightly. A spotlight passes by their window and he doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until his chest constricts. He doesn’t relax until the sound of blades whirring are completely gone, and even then, he’s still tense.

He loosens his hold on Rufus slightly. Just slightly. Enough for him to inspect Rufus’ face, happy to see color returning to it. He gently runs his hand against the back of Rufus’ head, nuzzles his nose into his hair, makes sure he’s all there.

Then, he finally allows himself to fall asleep.

Tomorrow, they’ll awaken to a new day.

A new life.

**Author's Note:**

> Could potentially turn into a small chaptered fic :x


End file.
